Officers: prévôtés, bailiwicks, seneschals · The Khwarazmshah's realm · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Qumis (Khwarazmian)

Qumis is the strip of towns along the great Khorasan road between the Alborz and the Great Desert: Khuvar, Semnan, Damghan (its capital) and Bistam.

The Bavandid Ardashir recovered Bistam and Damghan in 1174 and ceded them to Tekish about 1191-92; since 1194 the whole road from Nishapur to Rayy has been Khwarazmian. The Nizari fortress of Girdkuh stands on its own rock west of Damghan inside the province.

Who he is

Title
Khwarazmian governor of Qumis
Since
About 587-588 AH (1191-92), when Ardashir ceded Bistam and Damghan
Confidence
low

Overlord

Tekish, Khwarazmshah.

What it holds

  • Damghan and its district
  • Bistam and the district of the later Shahrud
  • Semnan and its district
  • Khuvar (Khwar al-Rayy) on the road to Rayy (with Rayy's governors or Qumis: not pinned)

How it was acquired

Ceded by Ardashir about 1191-92; the road secured by the victory over Tughril III at Rayy in March 1194.

Allies and rivals

The Nizaris of Girdkuh in the middle of the province; the Bavandids north of the mountains.

How things stand that morning

Khwarazmian; the governor is not named.

Wealth

The Khorasan road (caravanserais, tolls), oasis farming on qanats and mountain streams, fruit.

Military

Not in the sources.

Threats

  • Bavandid recovery of Damghan after Tekish's death (later)

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

  1. After July 1200 (not pinned)Ardashir recovers Damghan.Depends on: Tekish's death and Khwarazmian weakness in the west Stopped by: A strong Khwarazmian hold

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Possession is clear from Ibn Isfandiyar via Madelung; no governor is named.

On the map: The western end at Khuvar and the eastern end towards Juvain are rough.

Primary sources for Khwarazm

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

  • The Chronography of Bar Hebraeus, Gregory Bar Hebraeus (Abu'l-Faraj) (about 1275 to 1286). A later compilation that for 1200 relies on Michael the Syrian and Ibn al-Athir, but adds the Jacobite church's own memory of the Jazira, Mosul, Melitene and the Artuqid and Zangid courts, and carries Michael's story past 1195: the Seljuk brothers' war in Rum, the Khwarazmian and Ghurid wars in the east, Mosul under Nur al-Din Arslan Shah, and the caliph al-Nasir. Read online
  • The Complete History, Izz al-Din Ibn al-Athir (about 1200 to 1231, at Mosul). The widest Muslim narrative for the years 596 to 597 AH (1199 to 1201): al-Adil's entry into Cairo and his taking of the sultanate from his nephew al-Mansur Muhammad early in 1200, the quarrels of the Ayyubid princes at Damascus, Aleppo and Hama, the Nile failure and the great famine of Egypt, Mosul under Nur al-Din Arslan Shah and the Jazira under Gokbori and the Artuqids, Baghdad under the caliph al-Nasir, the Khwarazmshah Tekish's death in 1200 and Muhammad's accession, the Ghurid wars in Khurasan, the Eldiguzids and Georgia, the Almohads in the west, and the Seljuks of Rum in passing. Read online
  • Comfort of Hearts and Sign of Joy: a History of the Seljuks, Muhammad ibn Ali al-Rawandi (Ravandi) (1203 to 1204, dedicated to Kaykhusraw I of Rum). A history of the Great Seljuks from their origins to the death of the last sultan Toghril III in 1194, begun at Hamadan and finished for Kaykhusraw of Rum when the author moved to Anatolia. Read online
  • History of Tabaristan, Ibn Isfandiyar (Baha al-Din Muhammad ibn Hasan) (begun 1206, extended about 1216; continued anonymously to 1349). The local history of the Caspian province and the only account of the Bavandid kings of Tabaristan: Husam al-Dawla Ardashir (reigned 1173 to 1206) at Sari and Amul, his dealings with the Khwarazmshahs Tekish and Ala al-Din Muhammad, the Nizaris of Alamut, the Eldiguzids and the caliph, and the marriages, feuds and raids of the Daylamite and Gilaki lords. Read online
  • The History of the World Conqueror, Ata-Malik Juvayni (1252 to 1260). Written for the Mongols but with a long retrospective on the powers they destroyed. Read online
  • The Life of Sultan Jalal al-Din Mankubirti, Shihab al-Din Muhammad al-Nasawi (about 1241, at Aleppo). A Khwarazmian secretary's life of the last Khwarazmshah. Read online
  • The Nasirid Generations: a General History of the Muslim Dynasties, Minhaj-i Siraj Juzjani (1259 to 1260, at Delhi). The Ghurid court's own history, by a man born in 1193 whose family served the sultans of Ghur and Ghazna. Read online
  • Compendium of Chronicles, Rashid al-Din Fadl Allah Hamadani (1300 to 1311, at Tabriz). The official Ilkhanid history, compiled from Mongol oral tradition and the lost Altan Debter. Read online

3 more in the sources library for Persia and the Eastern Islamic World.

Sources and studies

  1. Encyclopaedia Iranica, 'Bavandids' (W. Madelung), on Hosam-al-dawla Ardashir after Ibn Esfandiar
  2. Wikipedia, 'Ala al-Din Tekish' (after Ibn al-Athir, trans. Richards, and Juvaini, trans. Boyle)
  3. G. Le Strange, The Lands of the Eastern Caliphate (1905), chs. on Tabaristan, Gilan, Jurjan, Qumis and Quhistan
  4. Encyclopaedia Iranica, 'Gerdkuh' (F. Daftary)

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.